New Zealand Warriors - 2008

The Warriors finished the 2008 season with a wet sail and produced a pair of stunning NRL finals boilovers in a vintage year for rugby league in New Zealand.

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The Warriors’ rousing finish to the previous season and the acquisition of champion Brisbane centre Brent Tate saw the bookies install them among a tight cluster of six clubs in the 2008 NRL premiership market behind red-hot favourites and defending champion Melbourne. In a Big League magazine poll of 12 pundits, 10 tipped the Warriors for back-to-back Top 8 appearances.

Journeyman utility Ian Henderson, who won a Premier League grand final for the Roosters under Ivan Cleary’s coaching in 2004, and promising Masterton-born Storm centre Ryan Shortland were the only other additions to a stable roster.

But a heavy injury toll and dreadful form on the road during the first half of the season meant the Warriors required another late surge to scrape into the finals – which laid the platform for one of the club’s most memorable playoff charges.